Privacy Policy

SM would mean a short abbreviation for our registered brand name Sparkleminds and also includes sparkleminds.com (“Our Site”) to complement the services that the firm provides. This statement, set forth below, is our privacy statement for the global network of our professional services firms and their affiliated and associated entities.

Here we describe the practices we follow to respect the privacy of all visitors to Our Site. At SM, we have focused on implementing fair information practices that are designed to protect your privacy. We believe that everyone benefits from the free flow of information when that information is gathered and used responsibly.

If you have questions or you do not feel that your concerns have been addressed in our privacy statement, contact us.

Collection, use, disclosure, choice
Registration is not required for you to use Our Site. If you are merely a visitor, we do not collect any personal information about you, except to the limited extent through the use of cookies, which are described below. However, there may be circumstances in which you choose to register to ongoing updates from SM.

In these cases, SM may contact registrants to invite them to special events, provide them with information about our services, publications, and products, or for other marketing purposes.

Information collected at registration is protected using industry-standard encryption technology as it is sent over the Internet. For example, you may choose to register for:

Email alerts: SM offers an email alert service to site visitors, in which we send subscribers email updates when new information is added to Our Site. If you decide to subscribe, we will collect basic contact information about you, such as your name and email address.

Expressing an interest in working for SM: Our Site enables you to register your interest in working for us or applying for an advertised vacancy. For more detail about the recruitment process and the information required, visit the careers section of Our Site.

Franchise Center Webcasts: To view an SM Franchise Center Webcast (live or archived), registration is required. When you register, you must provide your name, email and mailing addresses, country, industry, company, position and phone number. At the time of registration, you are also asked whether or not you are a client of SM, and whether or not you would like to be informed of upcoming webcasts via Franchise Center Webcast email alerts. All information is required in order to view any webcast. At the time of registration, you can check a box to automate the log-in process, which allows you to be automatically logged on upon your return to the SM Franchise Center Webcast section when using the same computer. We use registration information for internal research and analysis purposes to help us understand who is viewing our webcasts, and become better equipped to serve your needs.
If you are interested in Franchise Center Webcasts, but you do not wish to provide any personally identifiable information, you can read the executive summaries (“webcast recaps”) posted on Our Site, which require no registration.

Surveys: SM may conduct surveys via Our Site. Survey participants may be asked for personal information (name, contact information, etc.) in addition to opinions or feedback. The type of information collected in surveys will vary.

Thought leadership registration: SM occasionally requires registration in exchange for our thought leadership: white papers, articles, studies, reports, survey analyses, booklets, etc. Personal information may be asked for on registration forms and the type of information collected may vary. SM reserves the right to distribute certain thought leadership materials only to those who supply the requested information.

Event registration: SM facilitates event registration via Our Site or, at times, via third-party websites. Personal information may be collected via event registration forms and the type of information collected will vary. SM may share registrant information with third parties in association with the event. Examples of “third parties” include hotels, sponsors or co-sponsors, promoters, event organizers (including via third party websites), speakers, panelists, etc. Please check the details provided at individual events to understand fully how your information will be used.

Franchise Expansion Forms and Quiz: SM accepts franchise expansion forms and quiz on the Site. Companies and Business owners can fill up these forms. Business information, including financial data, is required of the company, and the nominee of the company must sign the expansion form or quiz. Further, some of the information on the expansion form or quiz may be used for research, educational, or any other purpose, but we will not divulge the personal identity of the company or the identity of the nominee’s company to any person other than what may be required by law.

SM Alumni: Any personal data that an alumnus submits to SM will only be used to maintain contact with that alumnus, and will not be disclosed to any third party without the individual’s express permission.

SM Client Portal: If you have been given access rights to SM Client Portal by your SM contact, we would recommend you take note of the full privacy notice associated with this service. You will have access to the notice once you log onto SM Client Portal.

Sensitive personal data
SM does not intentionally collect any sensitive information via Our Site unless legally required to do so, for example, recruitment purposes. Sensitive personal information includes race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or other beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health, sexual life or criminal records and in some cases social security numbers or financial information. Sparkleminds works to protect the confidentiality and security of such information it obtains in the course of business. Access to such information is limited and policies and procedures are in place designed to safeguard the information from loss, misuse, and improper disclosure.

Disclosure
SM subscribes to the disclosure norms laid under the companies act in India and will only disclose personal data to third parties that have agreed in writing to provide an adequate level of privacy protection. As such, we may disclose your personal information for the following reasons:

Where the transfer is necessary to fulfill your request and involves a third party organization with which SM has a relationship or

In order to fulfill a request that involves more than one SM member Firms; or

When explicitly requested by you, the site visitor; or

As required by a court order or any other legal or regulatory requirement; or

The disclosure is reasonably related to the sale or other disposition of all or part of our business.

Note: SM does not collect or compile personal data or information obtained by this site for dissemination or sale to outside parties for consumer marketing purposes or host mailings on behalf of third parties other than those who request for franchise business expansion requests and are SM clients.

Data amendments and retention
Information collected from visitors to Our Site will only be kept in order to provide the required service. Once the service has been completed all information will be destroyed in accordance with SM’s data retention policies. Should you require your information to be updated, amended or deleted from our records please contact us outlining your requirements.

Third-party links
Please be aware that sparkleminds.com sometimes contains links to other sites that are not governed by this privacy policy. Visitors to Our Site may be directed to third-party sites for more information, such as about our thought leadership, events, content sponsorships, vendor services, government entities, non-profits, and social networks. SM makes no representations or warranties regarding how user data is stored or used on third-party servers. We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of each third-party site linked from Our Site to determine their use of your personal data.

Cookies and Web Beacons
Our Site may use cookies and Web beacons.

What is a cookie?
A “cookie” is technology that allows Our Site to store tokens of information (an ‘identifier’) in your browser used only by Our Site while you are on Our Site. Cookies are not used to determine the personal identity of anyone who is merely visiting Our Site. They serve to help us track traffic patterns to determine a user’s preferred location and language so that we can direct them to the correct country home page when they visit Our Site.
Cookies have other uses as well. For example, in the Franchise Center Webcast section (“Webcast Section”), they are used to provide entry for subscribers who have chosen the automatic log-on feature during registration. Cookies are also used to prevent online poll participants from voting more than once.
If you do not want to receive a cookie from Our Site or the Webcast Section, you have the option of setting your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, so that you may determine whether to accept it or not. However, please be aware that if you do turn off ‘cookies’ in your browser, you will not be able to fully experience some of the features of Our Site. For example, you will not be able to benefit from automatic log-on and other personalization features of the Webcast Section.

What are Web Beacons ?
SM occasionally advertises on third-party Web sites. As part of our effort to track the success of our advertising campaigns, we may at times use a visitor identification technology such as “web beacons,” or “action tags,” which count visitors who have come to Our Site after being exposed to an SM banner ad on a third-party site. We do not use this technology to access your personal information and it is only used to compile aggregated statistics about visitors who come to Our Site and to gauge the effectiveness of our ads.
By navigating on Our Site you agree that we can place cookies and web beacons on your computer or device. If you prefer not to receive cookies or web beacons then you should stop using Our Site or consult your browsing settings.

Apps, QR Codes and other related technologies
When you scan a QR Code, the third party that we engage to provide our QR Codes (3GVision) may collect certain information from your mobile device (such as your mobile device identifier and IP address). 3GVision uses this information only on our behalf for the purpose of providing anonymized statistical reports to us about users of our website and services.

Social Media Platforms
You may wish to participate in the various blogs, forums, wikis and other social media platforms hosted by SM (“Social Media Platforms”) which we make available to you. The main aim of these Social Media Platforms is to facilitate and allow you to share content. However, SM cannot be held responsible if you share personal information on Social Media Platforms that is subsequently used, misused or otherwise appropriated by another user.
SM may also provide links to other social media platforms maintained on separate servers by individuals or organizations over which SM has no control. SM makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or any other aspect of the information located on such servers. A link to a third party’s website should not be construed as an endorsement by either SM or that third party of the other or its products and services. SM makes no representations or warranties regarding how user data is stored or used on third-party servers. We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of each third-party site linked from Our Site to determine their use of your personal data.

Children
This privacy statement is not intended for use by children. We understand the importance of protecting children’s information, especially in an online environment, and we do not knowingly collect or maintain information about children.

Changes to this policy
SM may change this policy statement as needed. If changes to the statement are made, please note that it may take up to 30 business days before new privacy practices are implemented. Check this page periodically if you would like to monitor changes.

Unsubscribe
SM gives you choices regarding the collection and usage of your personally identifiable information. If you have registered for any SM related updates through sparkleminds.com, and do not wish to receive future e-mails, please visit our unsubscribe page within the application you registered.